


Through A Library, Darkly

by TheatreGirl79



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Books, Gen, Libraries, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatreGirl79/pseuds/TheatreGirl79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Libraries are always interesting places.<br/>Especially in Cardiff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Through A Library, Darkly

Jack leaned back in his chair, devouring the last paragraph of the novel he was reading. A smile spread across his face, lighting up his entire being. Jack snapped shut the book he had been reading and chucked _Through A Glass, Clearly_ on top of a pile of something on his desk. He looked at the bookshelf above his head.

“Huh.” Jack pursed his lips as he realized he had already reread all of his Isaac Asimov books, and the rest of the books up there. “I could go for something different.” He thought a moment and then jumped up from his desk.

He grabbed his grey RAF great coat off of the coat rack in the corner, and slipped it on. He quietly moved through the doorway and manuevered through the Hub, not making a sound. Tosh typed away at her computer, head down, hair falling like a curtain of night, blocking her from everyone else. He could hear Owen muttering away to himself until “Bollocks!” could be heard ascending the staircase from the autopsy bay. Jack smiled to himself and opened his vortex manipulator, disabling the yellow emergency lights above the cog door for a minute. Hitting the panel next to the door, he slipped out of the cog door before it had fully opened, before Tosh could spot him.

Jack hurried up the stairs, his coat billowing out behind him, and pulled open the door that led into the tourist office. So far, so good. He had not run into Gwen or Ianto and he was happy about that. Closing the door quietly behind him, he silently strode across the small room when he heard a throat being cleared behind him. He stopped in his tracks.

“Going somewhere, _Sir_?”

Jack turned around, plastering a smile to his face and looked Ianto Jones straight in the eyes. “I was just bopping out for a bit.”

“Bopping out Sir?” Ianto stepped forward, straightening his grey tie. “Would you like me to go with you Jack?”

Jack looked over Ianto and licked his lips. Even in the harsh fluorescent light, Ianto still looked very sexy. His red shirt made his face seem flush, and Jack loved making Ianto look flushed. He looked away from his face and wished he hadn't. The pinstriped suit Ianto had worn that day hugged his form quite well and if Jack remembered correctly, these were the tight pants that showed off his bum very well.

Jack quickly closed his eyes. “No!” He opened his eyes. He might have said that too loudly, way too loudly. He looked at Ianto.

Ianto quickly looked away, making Jack think that he did indeed say that way too loudly and emphatically.

“All right then Sir. I shall just be here, taking care of the filing and you can come back whenever you wish.” Ianto picked up a stack of papers, making them nice and neat.

Jack strode forward and placed a hand on Ianto’s shoulder. Even his shoulder felt rigid. Jack knew he had goofed. “Listen, Ianto…” Jack’s voice caught in his throat as Ianto whipped his head around and trapped him in those baby blue eyes. “I was just heading out to the library to get some new books, I’ve tired of the old ones for now. I just wanted to go alone for once, just get something all for and by myself. Is that all right?”

He didn’t know what it was about the Welshman that had made him crumble like that, and in fact, he was a little afraid to find out. He smiled as Ianto turned around and faced him, placing a hand on Jack’s left hip.

“That’s all you had to say Jack. I would have let you go to the library. It’s not like it’s the pub next to the military base.” Ianto let go of Jack and walked around the desk, stopping by the beaded curtain. “Go, before they miss you. I’ll be here. Go satisfy your intellectual appetite."

“And when I get back, Ianto Jones, you can help me satisfy my other appetites.” Jack’s face lit up with a big shit-eating-grin as he twirled around and flounced out the door, his coat all a-twirl.

~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~

Jack struggled to remain conscious. He could feel the darkness clinging to him, trying to pull him down towards death. He had promised Ianto he would be back, but as each second passed it seemed harder and harder to do. The coldness of the marble floor beckoned to him. He could feel it through the thickness of his trousers. Cold, so much coldness waited for him.

He could hear the shouts of people and the cries of children getting softer around him as his body slowly succumbed. The blood continued to pour forth from the wounds in his chest. It couldn’t have been real, but the shooting pain feels so damn bloody real. All he had wanted to do was take a walk to the library and get a nice book, then go back and shag Ianto. Just doing simple things on a nice, sunny day. The sounds of chaos seemed farther and farther away as he was barely aware of a body stumbling and falling over his own. He could hear it land next to him and the scream, and then his body seemed to scream as he blinked out.

~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~

Suddenly his whole body was alive, it was so full of life it shouted at him from every atom as he became breathing flesh and blood once more. He reached out from the darkness, shaking it off and his hands grabbed for anything, something solid, something real. They latched onto a pair of arms and he held on tight, shaking the darkness from him.

He swallowed down great gulping breaths of air as his eyes shot open. They gazed upon a pair of light blue, baby blue eyes. The eyes seemed to have a calming effect on him. He looked down and saw that Ianto held him in his arms, the very arms he was grasping onto like life preservers.

“You are all right,” Ianto whispered in his ear. He pulled back. “The others are here. We have the thing contained to the third floor.”

Ianto stood up and held out his hand to Jack who seized it. The Welshman pulled his captain up to a standing position. Jack looked down at his dishevelled clothes and at the multitude of holes in his shirt.

“How did you get here so fast?” Jack tucked his shirt in and pulled his coat closed, trying to hide the bloody holes.

“Tosh was already getting reports of strange occurrences before you called us. We were on our way.” Ianto pulled a leather package from his pocket. “If you don’t mind me asking, what attacked you?”

Jack smiled as he accepted the holster and his gun from Ianto and attached it to his belt. “A deHaviland Mosquito.”

“Isn’t that a plane?”

“From World War II. Yep. Pretty powerful weaponry when it wanted to be. They were used in runs against Germany, guns and bombs.” Jack pulled out his Webley gun and checked the barrel, happy that it was fully loaded.

“Good thing it didn’t bomb you?” Ianto raised an eyebrow in his direction.

Jack shot him a beleaguered look and shook his head. “Was anyone else hurt?” He started for the main staircase, leading up to the third floor, his boots slapping against the marble, echoing in the now quiet library.

“A couple of sprained ankles from people tripping, some more gunshot wounds but they were taken to the hospital, and a couple of banged heads when people tried to escape.”

“No one seriously hurt?”

“Everyone should survive, even you.” The two men ascended the last flight of stairs and came upon the two main doors to the third floor closed shut, Owen standing in front of them, his gun trained on the doorknob.

“Look who decided to finally bloody show up,” Owen said, barely looking at the two men. Ianto pulled out his gun and covered the main door also.

“Where are the girls,” Jack asked as he surveyed the scene. Books discarded on the stairs in piles of mud, or glops of paint. Books about nature with spiders crawling all over them. A history book next to him left open with the voice of Winston Churchill shouting from it. Another book hanging off the staircase, sparkles of magic and childish giggles echoing from its pages.

“We are by the back staircase Jack, and we can hear you,” Gwen chimed in over his earpiece.

“Good. You guys cover the doorways, I’m going in.” Jack cocked his gun and put his hand on the doorknob.

“Dying once today isn’t enough for you,” Owen muttered.

Jack shot the doctor a look and then turned the knob and pulled open the door. He stepped forward and stared inside, his eyes growing wide. He shot it a weak smile and then quickly stepped back, slamming the door shut.

“What’s going on Jack,” Gwen asked as the door slam seemed to reverberate through the building.

“Nothing yet. I need to do something first,” Jack stated as he holstered his gun, not closing the holster. He looked at Ianto and then he looked at Owen. Making a face, Jack jumped on Owen, grabbing the man around his chest in a bear hug.

“What the bloody- Fuck! Get off of me Harkness!” Owen tried elbowing Jack in the ribs.

Jack started to rub himself up and down Owen. Ianto just stared at the two men, his gun pointing at the ground, not moving. Jack then pushed Owen up against the wall and started rubbing his ass all over Owen. Owen stood there mortified, his hands on the wall. Jack stopped rubbing his body all along Owen, shot him a smile, and then swung the door open and strode inside.

Jack seemed to glide across the marble great hall that marked the top floor of the library. He could remember when politicians had spoken here, when children had played in here because it was not safe to go outside. Now, he found himself drawn towards the beauty in front of him. She was beautiful. Dark raven hair, skin as white as milk, wearing this long black turtlenecked shirt, black leggings that showed off her legs, and the black knee high heeled boots which added to her stature. But what truly drew his attention was the pregnant belly which faced him.

“You smell like a human,” she seemed to purr at him. Her silver eyes locked with his as she stared into his being.

“Do I? Funny, I don’t think you’re human though.” He approached her, his hands out from his body, showing her he wasn’t armed. “You did this didn’t you?”

“I would like to take the credit for it,” she said, moving towards him, almost seeming to glide across the floor. She placed her hand on her very pregnant belly. “My child seems determined to get its own way.” She continued to stare into him as she stood next to him and sniffed the air. She suddenly smiled and raised a hand, about to stroke his cheek when Jack shot his hand up and gripped her wrist.

He paid attention to how cold her skin was. “You are close to delivery. I’ll make you a deal.” He looked her in the eyes so intently, they were almost touching, forehead to forehead. “Since no one got seriously hurt, why don’t you leave my planet, have your baby somewhere else.”

“But it was so intent on ruling this pathetic little planet.” She smiled at him, revealing another non-human quality, four little fang-like teeth.

“Not this planet, not as long as I live. Go now and you can go without a problem.” The two of them stared at each other, Jack still holding tight to her wrist. She brought her other hand up and he quickly snatched that wrist also. He pulled her in close to him, a menacing look on his face. “You have one chance. I wouldn’t piss me off any more than your child already has.”

She sniffed the air around him and smiled. Before he could do anything else she looked down and then looked back up at him, her silver eyes glowing. She licked her lips and then disappeared right out of his hands. He dropped his hands to the side and took a deep breath.

Jack tapped his earpiece. “All right guys, the coast is clear.” He snapped his holster shut as the doors at either end of the hall opened and the rest of the Torchwood team moved in.

Owen stalked up to Jack and grabbed him by the lapel of his coat. “What the fucking bloody hell was that Harkness?” Owen pulled Jack close to him and pointed his gun at him. “Tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you for the fun of it.”

“I had to smell vile to her Owen.”

“So you rub against me like some kind of- I don’t even know what!”

“You were rubbing up against Owen?” Tosh looked at the two men, her mouth open.

“I had to. Not every species mates by having sex. If she had smelled my pheremones, she would have been pregnant like that.” Jack snapped his fingers.

“So rub up against teaboy,” Owen said as he shoved Jack away. “You do it anyways.”

“Which is why I couldn’t. He probably carries some of my smell on him.”

“All right! Enough of that!” Gwen held up her hands, trying to silence them. “We have a library to clean up. Damn! All these books ruined.”

“All these books must have been connected with the alien somehow. They all came alive.” Tosh finished scanning the area and pocketed her PDA. “But it’s all gone now.”

“Good thing,” Jack said as he fingered one of the holes in his shirt. “Books thrive on the imagination, they already have enough life of their own.”


End file.
